CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Rookie Anthony Bennett drilled a 3-pointer and threw his arms up into the air to celebrate late in the Cavaliers 109-99 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night at The Q.

"I was just having fun,'' said Bennett, who registered his first double-double with career highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds in 29:45 as the Cavs avenged a 124-80 loss in Sacramento on Jan. 12 and improved to 19-33, winning three in a row for the first time since Dec. 7-13.

When was the last time he had fun on the basketball court?

"I don't remember,'' Bennett said. "Today?''

The timing was bittersweet as Bennett, whose selection as the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft has been widely criticized, and his slow start undoubtedly contributed to the firing of general manager Chris Grant last week.

"I'm sure Chris Grant is smiling at home, and deservedly so,'' said Sacramento coach -- and former Cavs assistant under Mike Brown -- Mike Malone, whose team dropped to 17-35.

Bennett, who had shoulder surgery before the draft last summer and was unable to participate in summer league, has been coming early to practice and staying late, working to regain the form that made him a star last season at UNLV.

His teammates celebrated with him after Tuesday's breakout game.

"He played a heck of a game tonight,'' Kyrie Irving said. "It was awesome. I was a fan.''

Added Luol Deng, who led the Cavs with 22 points, "He's going to get it. These kind of games are going to come more often.''

With the Cavs missing Anderson Varejao (back) and C.J. Miles (sore right foot), Bennett came through when it counted, leading a strong bench effort that included 20 points and eight assists from Dion Waiters and an active 18 minutes from Henry Sims, who fished with seven points and five rebounds before fouling out. Tristan Thompson also had 16 points and 13 rebounds.

But the night belonged to Bennett. Brown was not surprised.

"You're starting to see a little bit of what we see in practice and the reason why we drafted him,'' the coach said. "He's a talented young man, and he's starting to come to life a little bit here. He's even better than what you saw tonight. You'll see in time.

"He can play. It was unfortunate that he was hurt. It was unfortunate that he didn't play in summer league. It's part of being a young, young rookie and experiencing some things. He got himself right. He's just now starting to be who you're going to see a lot of in the future. It's not anything that happened overnight, nor is it one or two things. He's a good basketball player. He can pass it. He can shoot it short range, he can shoot it long range, he can run the floor, he can finish in traffic, he can rebound. Height-wise he might not be 6-10 or 6-11 but he's long and he's strong. For a young guy, he's got a good feel. He's only going to get better.''

The Cavs led for almost the entire evening, just as they'd trailed most of the way at Sacramento. After leading by as many as 18 points in the third quarter, the Cavs lead was down to 84-77 after two free throws by Carl Landry with 9:23 left in the game. But the Cavs scored the next seven points on one free throw by Bennett, two by Waiters, one by Sims and a 3-pointer by Irving to regain control.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.